Last Moments
by Verya
Summary: Book based oneshot. There was only one way to save her, and it didn't matter the cost. All he cared about, all he had ever cared about, was keeping her safe. It had been his secret quest since they met, and now he would die for her.


**Hello, I've had this idea for a while and finally wrote it.**

**If you haven't read the books yet, this is Sam's death from Kelly's view.**

**Warning:**

**This does contain character death and is a little depressing.**

**(I don't own HALO, though it would be cool because I'd be rich)**

**On with the fic…**

"I think I can hold them off that long." He looked at John and then Kelly. He turned and showed them the burn in the side of his suit. There was a hole the size of his fist, and beneath that, the skin was blackened and cracked. He smiled, but his teeth were gritted in pain.

"That's nothing," Kelly said. "We'll get you patched up in no time. Once we get back—" Kelly froze and realization dawned on her. Kelly's mouth fell open, she could not say anything.

"Exactly," Sam whispered. He could not meet Kelly's eyes, he could not even look at her. The armor blocked her face, but he could imagine her beautiful features beneath, they had known each other to long and knew exactly what the other thought at all times. "Getting back is going to be a problem for me." Kelly closed her mouth and felt a tear from at her eye, the suit whisked it away.

"The hole." John reached out to touch it. "We don't have any way to seal in."

Kelly shook her head. As she did more tears fell from her eyes and were absorbed from her eyes. Kelly could not stand the thought of Sam leaving. She, John, and Sam had been friends since they were children. She could not imagine life without Sam, her good friend, and love. Other Spartan's had experienced a loss of interest in relationships, but for some reason she had always had a strange feeling about Sam. She realized now, when it was to late, that she loved him. Kelly realized that she loved all her teammates, but Sam in a special way.

Sam looked at Kelly and could feel her radiating despair.

"If I step off this boat, I'm dead from decompression," Sam said and shrugged. Sam felt a memory return from when he was young, he remembered his mother wrapping her arms around him and holding him close. A hug. Sam wanted to hug Kelly, to console her and let her know that he cared for her. He did not care for her like a little sister, he cared something more for her. His training and the code he lived by kept him from enveloping her in his arms, that and John's presence. He sighed, Kelly would live and that would be enough for him.

"No," Kelly growled. She did not have time to argue, none of them did, they had to get Sam to safety. "No—everyone gets out alive. We don't leave teammates behind."

"He has his orders," John told Kelly. Kelly would have shaken her head, but her suit would have probably broken her neck because of her passion and urge to protect her friend, Sam. Kelly refused to believe that John ordering Sam to his death.

"You've got to leave me," Sam said softly to Kelly. Kelly opened a channel to speak, but Sam cut her off. "And don't tell me you'll give me your suit. It took those techs on Damascus fifteen minutes to fit us. I wouldn't even know where to start unzipping this thing." Kelly felt cold, the cold of space, seeping into her bones and her heart. The cold was killing her just as the plasma had killed Sam.

John looked to the deck. The Chief had told him he'd have to send his friends to their deaths. He didn't tell him it would feel like this.

Sam looked behind him, they were running out of time. Time John needed to get her off safely.

"Don't waste time talking," Sam said. "Our new friends aren't going to wait for us while we figure this out." He started the timers. Drastic—it was the only way to get through to Kelly. "There. It's decided." A three minute countdown appeared in the corner of their heads-up displays. "Now—get going, you two." Sam looked at Kelly, she had to get off.

John clasped Sam's hand and squeezed it. 'Keep her safe.' Sam thought to John, pleading that he understood the unspoken plea.

Kelly hesitated, then saluted. It was the only goodbye she knew how to say.

John turned and grabbed her arm. "Come on Spartan. Don't look back." Kelly had yet to tear her eyes from Sam, it took all her training to follow John. Still, she looked back once as they fled and met Sam's eyes through his helmet, he smiled back at her as the Covenant charged behind him. John jostled her arm, she looked foreword again and did not look back, she would have stayed if she did. They kept running, but Kelly's mind was with Sam long after the pressure door had closed. John led her to a hole in the covenant ship, they climbed up next to a plasma cannon.

Sam only had twelve seconds to live, Kelly could almost hear the plasma burn through his skin. Then Kelly felt a cold in her gut, Sam had died and there was only five seconds on the timer. She collapsed to the ground, John crouched next to her and they clung to one another. The counter hit zero as John pushed off of the ship and sent them into vacuum.

The ship exploded, the brunt of the force was contained in the shield, but a few fragments flew by them before disappearing into space. Kelly's eyes overflowed and her suit was having trouble absorbing the tears flowing down her face. Her heart hardened and the sobs subsided as she clung to John.

There, floating in space toward their battered ship, Kelly made a vow: to kill every single one of those Covenant bastards. She would fight them until death took her, no matter how much her body would be disfigured by plasma, she would see their destruction.

**OK, a little sappy, but if you don't like it, deal with it/don't review.**

**Oh, and no flames.**

**At least I'm accurate.**

**Thank you for reading.**

**Verya**


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